Bloomvale House, 171 Plantation Road, Bleary, Craigavon, Co. Armagh, BT63 5NN

Bloomvale House is a one-and-a-half storey, three-bay, direct-entry thatched house, believed to have been built in 1785, though the earliest firm documentary evidence places it on a map of 1826. It sits behind a metal fence and small forecourt, facing north-west and overlooking the road that runs south-westerly from Lurgan to Gilford, approximately three miles from Lurgan. The building has been restored to an acceptable standard, with careful attention given to detailing throughout, including the thatched roof, chimneystacks, and external and internal finishes, doors and windows. It is currently in use as a shop.

The front elevation is constructed of roughly coursed, galleted rubble blackstone with plastered alternating quoins and a plastered plinth. The thatched roof is contained within tiled parapet gables, each rising to a rendered, corbelled chimneystack with a single pot. A further stack rises over the position of the kitchen hearth and carries three pots. The scollops at the ridge and below the middle stack are patterned, with an additional row slightly lower down the slopes and one row exposed at the eaves. The entrance door is four-panelled, with a semi-circular Gothic-glazed fanlight, a plastered surround and a brick arch, and is flanked on each side by two 6/6 vertically sliding sash windows with plastered reveals and brick arches. The sash windows have moulded sash stops and narrow sills. The remainder of the exterior is finished in coloured render.

On the north-east gable, there is a vertically sliding window at low level with sashes divided vertically into two panes, curved sash stops, and no sill. At upper level there is a plain sashed window with a sill of traditional depth and curved sash stops. A similar window lights the upper accommodation on the opposite south-west gable.

At the rear, starting from the south-west corner, the arrangement is as follows: a vertically sliding window with sashes divided vertically into two panes and without sash stops or sills; a raked buttress with a concrete coping; then a similar window, but with exposed sash boxes, above the position of two concrete-walled sumps. Next there is a lean-to extension with a natural slate roof and metal rainwater goods. The window on the left (south-west) side of the extension is vertically sliding with sashes divided vertically into two panes and without sash stops or a sill. On the front (south-east) side of the extension there is first a timber-framed, ledged, braced and sheeted door, and then a 6/6 vertically sliding window without a sill. To the right of this window there is a cast-iron handle pump. The north-east side of the main house is connected to the adjoining building by means of a round-headed archway containing a timber ledged, braced and sheeted door. The main window openings retain their shutters.

The stonework of the front elevation indicates two distinct building periods, with the section to the left (north-west) representing an earlier two-bay gable-hearth house that predates the Ordnance Survey of 1834. By that survey the house appears in essentially its present form, recorded in the contemporary valuation as a building of more than twenty years old, rated quality letter 2B+, noted as having a 'good situation', and measured at 49½ft x 23ft x 11½ft. Robert Gaskin is listed as the occupant at that time, and a range of single-storey outbuildings arranged in a U-shaped complex to the rear is also recorded, along with a 'pig house' and a 'house at rear' measuring 18½ft x 14ft x 8ft, presumably a dwelling for a farm hand.

A map of 1826, produced by John Wells and reproduced in C.E.B. Brett's Buildings of North County Down (2002), shows the house let by Alexander Stewart Esquire to Robert Gaskin. The same map includes a naïve illustration of the building which depicts a second, flat-arched doorway in place of the window immediately to the right of the entrance — a feature that had disappeared by some later date. Brett states that the house was built in 1785 and was probably built or at any rate owned from 1815 onwards by Robert Gaskin, though no documentary evidence is supplied to support those specific claims. The date of 1785 is based on papers held by a descendant of a previous owner and information supplied by other descendants and the then-current owner.

By the time of the revised Ordnance Survey of 1859, the property is marked 'Bloomvale' and a small extension is shown to the north-west, linking the house to the outbuildings. The outbuildings by this point contained a threshing machine, no doubt driven by the horse walk indicated in the field to the south-east. A small structure also appears at the roadside immediately to the south-west. The valuation of 1861 — which, for reasons unknown, refers to the property as 'Brookvale' — records the owner as William Dobson, described by Brett as the son-in-law of Robert Gaskin. The valuers note that a new lease was granted in 1846, suggesting Dobson may have succeeded Gaskin in that year. The quality letter 2B+ is used again, indicating the property remained in good condition, and a faint pencil annotation in the margin beside the main entry reads 'well built'. William Dobson appears to have died in 1882, after which Mary Dobson — presumably his wife — is recorded as the occupant. In 1890 an extension was added to the outbuildings. In 1901 the lease passed to George Dobson, who appears to have added a further new outbuilding in 1912, when the valuers note 'new office to be valued'. George Dobson acquired the freehold of the property in 1916 and shortly afterwards sold it to James Blane Junior.

The house was abandoned in the early 1970s but was re-thatched and reoccupied in 1979, the re-thatching having been carried out by Gerry Agnew using wheat straw. Further repairs to the thatch were carried out by Gerry Agnew using straw in 1985, 1987 and 1989, with another full re-thatching reportedly carried out in 1995.